Ezra Jack Keats
Ezra Jack Keats, born Jacob Katz in 1916 in Brooklyn, New York, was a prominent American author and illustrator of children's books. He was the son of Polish immigrants, and due to rising anti-Semitism, his father changed the family surname to Keats to enhance employment prospects for his children. Keats demonstrated artistic talent from a young age, supported by his mother, though his father urged him to find a more practical occupation. The Great Depression and family obligations prevented him from attending art school, but he pursued his artistic passion while working various jobs. After serving as a camouflage specialist in World War II, he transitioned to a career in illustration, working with major publishers until he began creating his own children's books. His most acclaimed work, "The Snowy Day," published in 1962, won the Caldecott Medal and is celebrated for its portrayal of an African American boy, Peter. Throughout his career, Keats focused on the lives of young people from diverse backgrounds, producing over twenty children's books and receiving numerous accolades before his passing in 1983.
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Subject Terms
Ezra Jack Keats
Author
- Born: March 11, 1916
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
- Died: May 6, 1983
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Ezra Jack Keats was born Jacob Katz in Brooklyn, New York, in 1916. He was the son of Polish immigrants, Benjamin Katz, a waiter, and Augusta Podgainy Katz. Perceiving a rising anti-Semitism in the United States, Benjamin Katz changed the family name to Keats because he feared that having a Jewish name would limit his children’s employment opportunities. The couple’s children were gifted artistically. Keats’s brother earned his living as a portrait photographer and his sister was an accomplished sculptor.
As a child, Keats showed a gift for drawing. His mother encouraged his talent, but his father warned Keats that he must find some practical means of earning a living or be destined for a life of poverty. The Great Depression began when Keats was thirteen, so his father had good reason to want his children to develop marketable skills. Despite his reservations about his son’s future, Benjamin provided Keats with paint and brushes, telling him that one of his customers had traded them in return for food, a probable fabrication designed to show Keats the difficulties of earning a living as an artist. The boy, nevertheless, continued to paint and was offered three scholarships to attend art school. He had to decline them, however, because he had to work to help support his family.
When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Keats, who had worked at menial jobs for nearly a decade, joined the war effort as a camouflage specialist. It was then that he decided to pursue a career in illustration when the war ended. He spent the years from 1945 until 1954 illustrating the books of other writers, working freelance for many of the largest publishers in New York. He also managed to receive some professional instruction in art at New York’s Arts Students’ League.
Keats’s first venture into writing and illustrating his own children’s books came in 1960, when he collaborated with Pat Cherr on My Dog Is Lost!, a book that enjoyed reasonable success. His next book, written and illustrated without a collaborator, was The Snowy Day, which was a resounding success and brought Keats the Caldecott Medal in 1963 for most distinguished American picture book for children. The Snowy Day later was adapted as a short film for children.
Keats followed this triumph with several more children’s books before the 1960’s was over. In most of them, his main character was Peter, an African American youth whose physical and emotional growth Keats followed with sensitivity. In most of his writing, he was especially concerned with the lives of young people belonging to ethnic minorities.
Before his sudden death in 1983, Keats had written and illustrated more than twenty children’s books and had illustrated many children’s books written by other authors. Among the legion of prizes he received was a Venice Film Festival Award for Children’s Short Film in 1967 for the film version of The Snowy Day.